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Means test for Jobseeker's Allowance

Introduction

To qualify Jobseeker’s
Allowance (JA) you must satisfy a mean test. In a means test the Department
of Social Protection examines all your sources of income to test if they fall
below a certain level. If they fall below that level you will get Jobseeker’s
Allowance. The amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance you get depends on your income
level.

In the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance your household
income is assessed. If you are married, in a civil partnership or
cohabitating, the means of your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant are also
taken into account. Sometimes a certain amount of income or income from
particular sources is not taken into account. Income not taken into account is
often referred to as income disregards.

The means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance can be a complex calculation.
Here we look at some of the general items that are taken into account in the
means test.

The means test examines the following types of income:

Cash income (including income from work)

Property personally used

Capital (savings and investments) and property not personally used

Benefit and privilege from living with your parents.

Cash income

The means test assesses all cash income that you expect to get in the
forthcoming year. If it is not possible to estimate your income over the next
12 months, it is usually based on the income you actually received in the
previous year.

Property personally used

The house in which you live is not included in the assessment of your means
unless you are getting an income from it. If you have rented a room in the
house, that income is assessed but the capital value of your home is not.

Capital and property not personally used

Capital includes property (not your home), savings and
investments.

If you own property (excluding your home) or you have investments or any
other form of capital, the value is assessed, using a standard formula (see
below) whether or not you are getting an income from the property or
investment. If property is rented you will not be assessed on the actual income
from the letting. Any outstanding mortgage registered against the property is
deducted from the market value to find the capital value.

The property and investments that may be assessed include savings in a bank
account (or anywhere else), a house that you have let and stocks and shares. If
you or your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant saves a portion of your social
welfare payment each week, these savings as well as savings from most other
sources will be taken into account as part of your means.

The formula for assessing the value of capital including property (but not
your own home), savings and investments is as follows:

Capital

Weekly means assessed

First €20,000

Nil

Next €10,000

€1 per €1,000

Next €10,000

€2 per €1,000

Balance (€40,000 +)

€4 per €1,000

If you have a joint account with your spouse, civil partner
or cohabitant, legally the total amount in the account is owned by each of you.
Therefore it can be assessed in full against each of you. However, if you are
both getting means-tested payments it will be assessed on a shared basis or
against only one of you.

For example

If you have €55,000 savings:

The first €20,000 is assessed as nil, €20,000 to €30,000 is
assessed as €10, €30,000 to €40,000 is assessed as €20,
€40,000 and €55,000 is assessed as €60.

€10 + €20 + €60 = €90

Savings of €55,000 gives a means of €90 per week.

Living with your parents

If you are 24 years of age or under and you are living with
a parent or a step-parent in the family home, some of your parents' income will
also be taken into account in the assessment for Jobseeker's Allowance.

Total means

To find your total means, your means under the various headings (for
example, cash income, employment, capital, benefit and privilege) are added
together. If you are married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting and your
partner is getting a social welfare payment in their own right your means may
be halved - see ‘Couples’ below.

Your total household means is then deducted from the maximum payment for
your situation (see below) to find the actual amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance
you are entitled to.

Maximum payment for your situation

The maximum payment for your situation is the maximum personal rate of
Jobseeker's Allowance including any increases for adult and child dependants.
However, if you are married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting and your
spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is getting a social welfare payment in
their own right, your joint means are halved and the maximum payment for your
situation will not include an increase for an adult dependant
and will only include half-rate increases for your child dependants (see
'Couples' below).

Your age can also determine the maximum payment for your situation. More
information on the JA rate for people under 26 can be found in our document on
Jobseeker's
Allowance.

This means that the maximum you can be paid is the maximum Jobseeker’s
Allowance payment for a single person plus a half-rate allowance for each
qualified child. (Your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant will get a half-rate
payment for each qualified child with their payment.)

In addition only 50% of your combined means are taken into account in the
means test for your Jobseeker’s Allowance - in other words your
combined means are halved. (The other half will be taken into account
in the means test for your partner's payment if your partner is getting a
means-tested payment.)

You can claim an increase for your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant while
they are taking part in a Community
Employment (CE) scheme. Their earnings from the scheme are assessed in the
same way as earnings from insurable employment (and your combined means are not
halved).

However, if you are claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and your spouse, civil
partner or cohabitant is getting of one of the social welfare payments listed
below, the total amount paid to you as a couple cannot be more than the maximum
amount that would be paid to one person (including adult and child dependants)
on one social welfare payment.

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